Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A program of executable code stored in Random Access Memory (RAM) and executed by a Central Processing Unit (CPU) to perform operations to autonomically configure a data storage device, the operations comprising: storing configuration data on a remote storage system, the configuration data comprising operating systems, applications and updates for multiple users with single instances of shared operating systems, applications and updates and an index of which operating systems, applications and updates are used on a next configuration of a data storage device; booting a computer system from an alternate boot program other than the regular boot program, the alternate boot program downloading a root file system through a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and executing a kernel operating system through the TFTP, the alternate boot program providing access to a network in electronic communication with the remote storage system; and configuring the data storage device that is in electrical communication with the computer system using the stored operating systems, applications and updates in response to the index on the remote storage system.
2. The program of claim 1 , wherein the data storage device is previously unused.
3. The program of claim 1 , further comprising an operation for detecting the failure of a data storage device in electronic communication with the computer system.
4. The program of claim 3 , further comprising an operation for detecting when a replacement storage device is ready.
5. The program of claim 4 , wherein the computer system is in electrical communication with a spare storage device that is autonomically detected and is assigned as the replacement device in response to the detection of a defective storage device.
6. The program of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data stored in the remote storage system includes a list of the contents of the data storage device including operating systems, programs, and updates.
7. The program of claim 6 , wherein the computer system accesses the index and autonomically configures a data storage device by downloading and installing the operating systems, programs, and updates as determined by data stored in the index.
8. The program of claim 1 , wherein the configuration data stored on the remote storage system is an exact copy of the data stored on the data storage device.
9. The program of claim 8 , wherein the data storage device is configured by transferring the exact copy of stored data back to a replacement data storage device.
10. An apparatus for autonomically configuring a data storage device comprising: a storage module comprising executable code stored in a RAM, executed by a CPU, and configured to store configuration data on a remote storage system, the configuration data comprising operating systems, applications and updates for multiple users with single instances of shared operating systems, applications and updates and an index of which operating systems, applications and updates are used on a next configuration of a data storage device; a boot module comprising executable code stored in the RAM, executed by the CPU, and configured to boot a computer system from an alternate boot program other than the regular boot program, the alternate boot program downloading a root file system through a TFTP and executing a kernel operating system through the TFTP, the alternate boot program providing access to a network in electronic communication with the remote storage system; and a device configuration module comprising executable code stored in the RAM, executed by the CPU, and configured to configure the data storage device that is in electrical communication with the computer system using the stored operating systems, applications and updates in response to the index on the remote storage system.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the data storage device is previously unused.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising detecting the failure of a data storage device in electronic communication with the computer system.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising detecting when a replacement storage device is ready.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the computer system is in electronic communication with a spare storage device that is autonomically detected and is assigned as the replacement device in response to the detection of a defective storage device.
15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data stored in the remote storage system includes a list of the contents of the data storage device such as operating systems, programs, and updates.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the computer system accesses the index and autonomically configures a data storage device by downloading and installing the operating systems, programs, and updates as determined by data stored in the index.
17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data stored on the remote storage system is an exact copy of the data stored on the data storage device.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the data storage device is configured by transferring the exact copy of the data back to a replacement data storage device.
19. A system for autonomically configuring a data storage device comprising: a remote storage system for storing configuration data, the configuration data comprising operating systems, applications and updates for multiple users with single instances of shared operating systems, applications and updates and an index of which operating systems, applications and updates are used on a next configuration of a data storage device; a computer system in electronic communication with a data storage device; a network, in electronic communication with the computer system that has access to the remote storage system; a storage module configured to store configuration data on the remote storage system; a boot module configured to boot a computer system from an alternate boot program other than the regular boot program, the alternate boot program downloading a root file system through a TFTP and executing a kernel operating system through the TFTP, the alternate boot program providing access to the network in electronic communication with the remote storage system; and a device configuration module configured to configure the data storage device that is in electrical communication with the computer system using the stored operating systems, applications and updates in response to the index on the remote storage system.
20. The system of claim 19 , further comprising an external storage device containing the program used to boot the computer system.
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October 14, 2008
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